14 DAY TRIAL // Celebrity Blogger Perez Hilton, real name Mario Lavandeira, has found himself under the legal fire of X17 Inc., a Los Angeles paparazzi photo agency, because of the unauthorized use of copyrighted photographs. "Pregnant Katie Holmes," "Kevin Federline Pumping Gas," "The New Slim Britney Spears," "Britney Spears Exposes Her Derriere" and "Britney Spears Exposes Herself (Again)" are titles among the list of images allegedly infringed upon by Perez Hilton.
Brandy Navarre, who co-owns X17 with her husband, Francois Navarre, made explicit the reason for which X17 is suing Perez, and disputed the fact that X17 has debuted legal action just because of the blogger's arrogance. "That was not my answer as to why I'm suing him. To give that quotation to Perez as the reason for our lawsuit against him is bad journalism in my opinion. And pitching the story in the second paragraph, as somehow less serious or valid because we take paparazzi images and not 'news' images, is confusing the issue. Copyright infringement is copyright infringement no matter what you, personally, see as the value of the material."
"She is suing me because I'm arrogant? That's not what her press release said. My position is that I don't think what I am doing is illegal, and I am going to vigorously defend myself. I am willing to step up to the plate and fight for my rights and fight for the rights of all bloggers," retorted Perez.
X17 alleges that Perez has used no less than 51 of their copyrighted materials on his blog without giving the agency any credit, posting a link leading to the original materials or paying licensing fees. Perez had previously received a cease and desist letter but had chosen to ignore it and even turned the legal confrontation on a personal level alleging that Brandy Navarre is an alcoholic. X17 is looking to obtain damages in the amount of $7.6 million.